Flames in the water
by Kurai Tora
Summary: This is a short fic inspired by 'Sound' in AO3. Trapped in a hopeless situation, Naoto muses about her last moments and regrets.


A cargo ship full of contraband, an entire crew arrested, and two detectives in an empty control room. "Oh my, to think that you were this gullible, how amusing!" Naoto had gotten herself in a disadvantageous position, with a lame leg and disarmed. _"Crippling me, what a sadist..."_ She looked behind him, spotting her weapon, Akechi had kicked it away and stood in her way. The young male had his gun trained on her direction as he walked around her, resembling a rabid dog circling its wounded prey.

Akechi had asked her to be his backup for a last run-through of the ship. She hadn't found anything amiss with it, but it was a mistake. _"Is that a suppressor-?" _When they had entered the control tower, the rookie had shot her dominant arm and her leg, kicking away her main gun. "So you were the mole..." She attempted to stem the blood flowing from the bullet hole down her arm as the youth held a disdainful sneer. "I had so many plans for Shido, yet you rats came and ruined them."

Naoto focused on the gun aimed at her, waiting for him to pull the trigger. "Tch-! Even though I sabotaged your plans, you still managed to corner him!" Akechi had a crazed look as his features twisted with anger. "I was supposed to be the one to ruin him...!" The maddened youth ranted about how he'd make his bastard father crawl like a worm, beating the prideful man down to nothing. _"He's gone too far..."_ Naoto reached for the spare handgun strapped to her ankle, waiting for him to come in range.

She wasn't naive, knowing that one of them would die tonight, but she didn't plan to go down without a fight. "Heh, I'll settle for making you beg for your life." Akechi stepped on her shot leg, intending on delighting his ears with her screams, but Naoto was adamant in not giving him the pleasure of torture. "Oh? Did the cat get your tongue?" He turned his heel, pressing his weight on her wound while grinning in sadistic glee at her pained grimace. "Hee, people with strong wills are so boring. Come on, just let out one scream? Then I'll end your misery."

She reacted in an instant once the gun was aimed away from her, hitting the base of his throat. Naoto didn't flinch at the blood splattering her face, his life for hers. She ignored the body falling like a ragdoll, crawling away and slumping against a wall while planning on how to treat her wounds. She huffed at the ache spreading from the injuries, but at least she wasn't bleeding too fast. Then she grimaced at the body, taking a life aways left a bitter aftertaste. _"... It's not as if he planned to spare me." _

Naoto mused if a call would make somebody come in time to rescue her. _"Another agent? The emergency service-?"_ While she ran over the options, her phone began ringing. _"I told her not to call."_ The detective felt a weight drop in her stomach at the caller ID. _"Rise..." _The ship was empty, and she was the only person around, so there should be no issues in answering. "Hello." The idol apologized and asked if Naoto was still in her mission.

"I still have to clear some loose ends. But I'm almost finished-" The cargo vessel shook when a discharge went off, a loud blast filled the air and drowned every noise. Naoto almost cursed at the explosion, Akechi must have rigged the ship to make the trafficking ring lose valuable resources. _"So that was his plan!"_ She only happened to be on board when the charges began going off. _"This piece of garbage...!"_ If she could get up, she'd kick the cooling corpse for this stunt.

_"A bomb?! But weren't they seizing illegal goods?!" _The woman asked the detective about what was going on. "Please, tell me that you will be fine!" **{About that, the situation has taken a turn for the worse.}** Another explosion went off, and Rise blanched with fear, knowing that Naoto was in mortal peril. **{Sorry for lying. It seems that I got myself in a trap. Forgive me, goodbye.} **The detective had ended the call before Rise could react. "Naoto... You promised to come back...!"

* * *

The lights in the Yokosuka port got turned on as many lifeboats arrived, carrying agents and detents. The members of Interpol and the police stood at attention under the bright lights, currently waiting for instructions from Agent Rou. The man cursed at the reports from his pack, listening attentively at the many voices. There were Whitcrystal ink crates, Borginian cocoons, illicit drugs, along with many other things. Shido had amassed quite the haul in this cargo ship.

"Holy fuckin' hell...! That guy was a shark..." Thankfully he'd soon end behind bars, him being the Japanese Prime Minister wouldn't shield his rear from the fangs of the law. The leader had called for a headcount, listening to the numbers said out loud. _"Wait, there's only 37?!" _He frantically scanned the faces in the crowd. "Who's missing?! We lack three officers!" An agent came to him. "Sir, we can't locate Ichijou, Akechi, nor Shirogane."

The Interpol Wolf swore under his breath at his theory, going by what he knew, there was only one place where those officers could be, hastily praying to be proven wrong. "Get me a boat! We need to go back-!" But when he barked this order, one loud and grating racket of steel ripped by a detonation reached their ears. "Sir! They rigged the ship with bombs!" Agent Rou watched with disbelief as flames rose from the containers and the hull got shredded by explosions.

No sane person would take the duty of going back to recover three people, even if they were among the best agents in the force. "Shido... You bastard..." Rou lowered his head, knowing what he had to do, but loathing it. "... Let's wait until the explosions cease." He grimaced at the following words. "Then, once it's safe, we'll conduct searches to locate them... Or the bodies." He growled with frustration, beating himself, those bright pups were about to be snuffed because he didn't keep a better vigilance over his pack.

* * *

The detective felt daggers pierce her chest every time the phone rang, knowing it was Rise. But she ignored the ringing, for there was no point in answering, she had already said her last words. _"Truly... I'm sorry for dying." _She began wondering about what would have happened if she had ignored Akechi and escaped when she was supposed to. _"Mikumo, sorry for wasting your time."_ Her senior loved to create jewelry as a hobby, so Naoto had discretely placed an order with her.

_"She mentioned using silver and a blue gem...__ going by the books she was reading, and those sketches, she planned to use a butterfly motif." _She had asked Mikumo about her progress in the past, asking for a preemptive glimpse, but she had refused to show an incomplete product. "I will give it to you after this operation. Trust me, it's beautiful, 'kay?" Naoto was forlorn, what should symbolize a promise would instead embody an impossible future.

Naoto had improvised dressings for the wounds on her thigh and arm, pacing her breathes to keep her body under control. _"Desperation will only hasten my end..." _But she wondered if this was a moot effort, seeing how Agent Rou had rounded up his pack and had them abandon the cargo ship. Was one detective worth the trouble of returning to a vessel being blown up? _"Is there even anyone senseless enough to still be here? ... Besides myself." _

She briefly glanced at the body she had gunned minutes ago, Akechi had been quite the convincing and cunning mole. And she had him to thank for her crippled leg, turning her into a sitting duck. _"I'm too far from the boats... damn..." _Naoto had a self-mocking smile, because of her mistake, she had made plans that wouldn't come to be. She wondered how Mikumo would react at her failure in watching for her self-wellbeing. _"If there's an afterlife, she'll surely give me a punch for this." _

And it wouldn't be the first time the older detective did it. The detective looked out of the window, the emerald and crimson lights arising from the burning containers offered a grotesque scene. "Khh... haha... So this is how my story finishes..." She chuckled self-deprecatingly, this would be a flashy end for her life. _"Although, I'd rather pass away from old age." _Oh well, there was nothing left to do besides waiting for her demise, be it by bleeding out, getting torn by an explosive, or drowning. _"Time to face the Shinigami."_

* * *

Rise had recalled where Naoto's group had set up their base and went straight there, asking for permission to stay in the office. "Let her be." The policeman who was attempting to throw her out retreated at the sight of the Chief Prosecutor. "Understood, sir." Mitsurugi showed her to the benches. "So you couldn't wait. Don't worry, stay with me and they won't bother you." Rise nodded as she swallowed the bile, then wiped some tears, it had been a few hours since that terrible call.

Badou had approached the pair, dreading the conversation. The woman was a sobbing wreck as tear streaks ran down her face and her reddened eyes belied hours of agony mixed with a bleeding heart for her lover. And the man looked as if his face had been carved out from brimstone, having locked away his emotions and hidden his heart, reverting to his Demon Prosecutor persona of yore. "Badou... were they located...?"

He shook his head, almost buckling under the pressure of crushing fragile hopes. He reached inside his trenchcoat and pulled out some items, those two had entrusted keepsakes to him, in the off chance something went wrong. "... Here." He offered a scarf and a cap, grimacing at the flash of pain in their expressions. Those two were more deserving of holding these than himself. "... I'll take my leave." Rise held on the cap as if it were a lifeline, shaking her head with disbelief and praying to wake up from this nightmare.

"N... Naoto..." Mitsurugi had a stoic face as he patted her back, hoping to transmit support, there was no shame in crying. "Tell me... say that this is a bad joke..." The prosecutor remained silent, letting her cry. He knew the struggle to clutch at the barest sliver of hope to stay sane. "Here." He handed over a handkerchief, unsure of what to do to support his fellow griever. One officer had tuned the radio after something interesting, the announcer was talking about the ship found in Tokyo.

The man said that the operation was a success, but it wasn't for the couple waiting for any news. "They have to find them... they must be alive..." The news agencies were astir over the notice about the cargo ship full of contraband that sunk in Tokyo's bay. Those vultures had latched on the tidbit about missing detectives and a deceased one. Two Detective Princes and the former Interpol Raven made for attractive headlines.

Rou snarled at the hounding reporters, he loathed their rumormongering and had nothing to state to these famished hyenas. "No comment!" His subordinates made a human cordon to keep the badgerers and hecklers away from his personage as he walked into the police station. He wasn't a coward, having taken upon himself the unpleasant duty of informing the people related to his fallen agents of their situation. "Don't let anyone get close to us."

Some of his burlier subordinates nodded and created a wall against prying eyes. _"Tch... this wasn't supposed to happen! I was negligent!" _He took a steadying breath to soothe his nerves. "Agent Rou...?" The pair had rising trepidation at Rou's somber expression. He had been leading their companions, and his demeanor hinted at bad news. The agent got down to his knees and kowtowed for his failure. "Kujikawa, Mitsurugi... My deepest apologies." Rise renewed her cries of anguish as her fears were validated.

* * *

**Author-**

😱 Lower those torches and pitchforks, this is only the first chapter!


End file.
